Heat exchanger



Feb. 21, 1950 s. E. BURKS ETAL HEAT EXCHANGER 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Dec. 13, 1945 Y EKMQ/ W wmw R 55% m 5 T A W m ffl Y B Feb. 21, 1950 a. E. BURKS ET AL 2,498,152

HEAT EXCHANGER Filed Dec. 13, 1945 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 q Q m a is? l v R 3 m N 8A N [I] q 0 A n L a 1 D V a w i INVENTORS.

GEORGE E. BURKS J HN H. SHEUSNER a/wwz 4 TTORNEY Feb. 21, 1950 G. E. BURKS ETAL 2,498,152

HEAT EXCHANGER Filed Dec. 13, 1945 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 IN VEN TORS. GEORGE E. BURKS JOH/V H. SHE USNER ATTORNEY Feb. 21, 1950 e. E. BURKS ETAL 2,498,152

HEAT EXCHANGER Filed Dec. 13, 1945 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 i///I///I I///111(l/I/Il/l/I/I/iiii IIiiIil/l/I/k/71111110011010,11/11/11/1/ ATIWRN Y Patented-Feb. 21, 1950 HEAT nxona vom George E. Burks, Peoria, 111., and John H. Sheusner, San Francisco, Calif., assignors to Caterpillar Tractor 00., San Leandro, Calif" a corporation of California Application December 13, 1945, serial No. 634,692 2 Claims. (of. 257-239) The present invention relates to heat ex changers and particularly to the kind of heat exchanger wherein two fluids are brought into heat exchanging relationship by passing one through a group of hollow members or tubes while the other is passed in contact with the outside of the tubes thus enabling .transfer of heat from one fluid to the other through the walls of the tubes while the fluids ar otherwise maintained separate.

The heat exchanger of the present invention is disclosed herein in its application to the cooling of supercharged air for an internal combustion engine for which use it is especially adapted. In such use, air which has become heated by its passage through a rapidly operating supercharger blower is subjected to the cooling effect of a liquid, usually water. It is to be understood, however, that the terms air and water used for convenience in this description are to be taken as referring to any fluids with which a heat exchanger may be employed. Furthermore, the present disclosure is of a structure in which water used as a treating fluid passes through a bank of tubes while air, as the fluid treated, is passed in contact with the exterior of the tubes, an arrangement which may be reversed depending upon the particular use to which the invention is put.

In the operation of a supercharger, the air passing through the supercharger blower becomes contaminated with oil which deposits on the outside of the heat exchanger tubes over which the air is passed. The water which is circulated through the tubes as a coolant, or treating fluid, causes deposits of impurities, such as lime and other solids found in solution in fresh water, and various marine growths and foreign substances when sea water is employed, as is common practice with marine engines. As the building up of deposits either inside or outside of the heat exchanger tubes reduces its operating efliciency, frequent cleaning is necessary. A structure is therefore desirable which enables easy access to the tubes for cleaning purposes.

Another problem is encountered in providing a heat exchanger for use in conjunction with a supercharger on a V type engine or on any engine having more than one air intake manifold to which air should-be supplied in equal quantities. It is desirable that the heat exchanger be so constructed and arranged as to receive air to be cooled and to direct the air after it is cooled in equal quantities to the separate manifolds in order to insure proper functioning of the engine.

' It is, therefore, an object of the present invention to provide a simple and efflcient heat exchanger which embodies a bank of heat exchange tubes with means for directing fluids,

against the inside and outside of said tubes and means for making said tubes readily accessible for cleaning. A further object is the provision of a device of this character wherein the bank of tubes, together with fluid baiile means, are contained within a fluidtight housing as a unit and may be removed from said housing by a simple operation and without the necessity of breaking any connections of fluid conduits with the housing. Another object of the invention is to provide a heat exchanger for operation between a supercharger and two or more intake manifolds of an engine wherein the air directed into the heat exchanger. is substantially equally divided and directed in separate pathstoward said manifolds after it has been cooled. Further and more specific objects and advantages of the invention are made apparent in the following description wherein reference is made to the accompanying drawings illustrating one form which the invention may assume.

In the drawings:

Fig. l is an end elevation of a V type internal combustion engine showing the application thereto of a supercharger, and a heat exchanger embodying the present invention for cooling the air after it leaves the supercharger and before it is directed to the intake manifolds of the engine;

Fig. 2 is a side elevation of a portion of the same engine;

Fig. 3 is an enlarged horizontal sectional view of the heat exchanger taken on the line III-III of Figs. 1 and 4;

Fig. 4 is a sectional view taken on the IVIV of Fig, 3;

Fig. 5 is a fragmentary sectional view taken along the line VV of Fig. 6; and

Fig. 6 is a sectional view taken along the line VI-VI of Fig. 3.

In Figs. 1 and 2 a conventional V type engine is indicated at I0, and is shown as having an air cleaner ll disposed in a central overhead position. A supercharger blower l2 of conventiomal line design is operated by connection with the engine,

not shown, and draws air inwardly through the air cleaner II and directs it downwardly to a heat exchanger housing l3 which contains a heat exchanger unit of a construction presently to be described in detail. From the housing l3, and after the air has been cooled by passing over 3 the heat exchanger therein, it passes through a pair of outlet elbows II which may be formed integrally with the housing l3 as shown, and is directed through conduits I5, one of which communicates with each of the elbows H, to intake manifolds l6 of the engine Ill.

The details of construction of the housing l3, and the heat exchanger unit contained by it, are best illustrated in Figs. 3 and 4 wherein the housing is shown as communicating with the supercharger blower l2 by means of a centrally disposed opening or throat I! arranged in the top of the housing and connected with the supercharger blower as by means of cap screws, such as shown at l8. The housing l3 has an open end which is closed in operation by a cover l9 secured in plac as by cap screws 20. A heat exchanger unit is slidable into the open end of the housing along supporting guides 2i, which are shown as cast integrally with the bottom wall of the housing. The unit comprises a plurality of open ended tubes 22 extending lengthwise of the housing and supported adjacent their outer ends by a header plate 23 and adjacent their inner ends by a similar but lighter header plate 24.

The tubes extend through suitable perforations in the header plates and may be secured thereto as by solder or brazing. The header plate 23 is clamped in place between the cover I9 and the housing l3 and suitable gaskets are preferably provided on both sides of the header plate to prevent leakage of fluids from the interior of the housing and from the interior of the cover. The inner header plate 24 has flanged edges 25 and a box like cover 26 secured thereto to provide a transfer chamber 21 communicating with the inner ends of all of the tubes 22. The cover I9 which is of hollow construction is provided with a central wall 28 separating its interior into the chambers as shown at 29 and 30. A coolant, such as water, is circulated through the tubes 22 while the air from the supercharger is passed over the exterior of the tubes.

The air from the supercharger blower enters through the throat I! in the housing and then passes through the exhaust fittings l4. In order to induce the air to pass substantially equally in opposite directions toward the outlets l 4 'bafile means are provided, as best shown in Fig. 4, and comprise a pair of substantially L-shaped plates 3|. Each of these plates has one portion underlying one-half of the tubes 22 and an angularly disposed portion meeting with a similar portion of the other plate directly beneath the center of the throat I! where the air flows into the housing. The air entering through the throat (I is therefore divided by the bailies and is caused to flow in opposite directions over the tubes 22. The baffles are arranged close to the bottom of the bank of tubes and the top of the bank of tubes is arranged close to the housing so that substantially all of the air is confined for close contact with the tubes which are arranged in staggered relationship to effect intimate contact of a large proportion of the air passing over them.

Cooling water which is passed through the interior of the tubes 22 enters the housin through a pipe 33 and, after passing through the tubes, discharges through a pipe 34. A suitable pump, not shown, is employed for circulating the water through the tubes and the water may be drawn by the pump from any convenient source such, for example, as an outboard inlet where the engine is in marine service.

The manner in which the water is directed through the tubes is best shown in Figs. 3 and 4 where the pipes 33 and are shown as connected by cap screws 35 and flanges 36 with the housing and communicating with ducts 31 for the intake and 38 for the discharge water. The ducts 31 and 38 are, as shown in Figs. 4 and 6 cast integrally with the bottom wall of the housing l3 and extend across the bottom of the housin to communicate with the interior of the cover I 9 through openings 39 and 40, respectively, shown in Fig. 3. The opening 39 communicates with the chamber 30 and the opening 40 communicates with the chamber 29. Consequently, water entering through the pipe 33 is communicated through the duct 31 and opening 39 to the chamber 30 in the cover l9, and flows through all of the tubes 22 which communicate with said chamber to the chamber 21 at the opposite ends of the tubes. The water then flows back through the tubes which communicate between the chamber 21 and the chamber 29. From the chamber 29 the water discharges through port 40, duct 38 and pipe 34. Thus a continuous circulation of water may be maintained through the tubes flowing through one-half of the bank of tubes in one direction and the other half of the bank of tubes in the opposite direction, while the air from the supercharger bloweris passing over the exterior surfaces of the tubes.

In order to clean the heat exchanger unit which is disposed Within the housing Hi, the cover l9 may be removed by removal of the cap screws 20. The entire heat exchanger unit, including the bank of tubes 22, and the baiiles 3| may then be withdrawn from the housing by sliding along the guides 2| which support it. The interior surfaces of the tubes may be cleaned by the use of a ramrod or similar instrument which will force all foreign matter through the tubes and into the chamber 21 meanwhile breaking it into small particles which may be flushed out of the system with water. The deposit of oil or other substances on the exterior of the tubes may be removed by immersing the unit ina suitable solvent or detergent solution.

When the heat exchanger unit is disposed within the housing it is secured at one end only and, therefore, free to expand and contract due to variations in temperature and its inner end is spaced sufiiciently from the housing wall to permit expansion to take place.

The cover member I9 is preferably provided with a plurality of zinc plugs as shown at 42 to act as electrodes in the event an electrolytic condition is created by the presence of salt water and metals of different electro-chemical equivalents. The zinc plugs will become the subject of electrolytic action, thus protecting the other metals and they are threaded through suitably arranged openings in the cover so that they may be replaced easily if they become decomposed by such action.

We claim:

1. A heat exchanger comprising a housing having a fluid inlet disposed centrally of one wall, a pair of outlets communicating with the housing through opposed walls at opposite sides of the inlet, a heat exchange unit comprising a bank of tubes disposed within the housing adjacent to the said one wall, and baille means comprising a pair of L-shaped plat-es meeting centrally of the bank of tubes and bisecting the inlet to confine fluid to flow equally in opposite directions toward the outlet and each forming a wall dismeans 5 posed adjacent the tubes to confine the fluid to flow in close proximity to the tubes.

2. A heat exchanger comprising a housing having a fluid inlet disposed centrally of one wall, a pair of outlets communicating with the housing through opposed walls at opposite sides of the inlet, a heat exchange unit comprising a bank of tubes disposed within the housing adjacent to the said one wall, header plates supporting the tubes adjacent their opposite ends, baflie means secured to the header plates and directing the fluid equally in opposite directions from the inlet to the outlets, and guide means in the housing arranged to receive and slidably support the unit by contact with the baiile means.

GEORGE E. BURKS. JOHN H. SHEUSNER.

6 manna-Nous orran The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNI'I'ED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 956,211 Snow Apr. 26, 1910 1,369,558 Sherbondy Feb. 22, 1921 1,662,615 McNeal Mar. 13, 1928 1,825,884 Mueller Oct. 6, 1931 1,831,337 Bennett Nov. 10, 1931 1,832,412 Newton Nov. 17, 1931 2,078,807 Puffer Apr. 27, 1937 2,137,399 Higbie et a1 Nov. 22, 1938 2,340,397 McNeal Feb. 1, 1944, 

